As the national and international spotlight currently shines upon Iowa as the Iowa Supreme Court has taken up the Varnum v. Brien case for same-sex marriage, some who oppose marriage equality for same-sex couples claim this would undermine the sanctity of marriage and possibly lead to the destruction of society, often using religious sanctions as their justification.

For example, responding to Vermont’s Civil Unions legislation in 2000, Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law reflected the opinion of a number of New England cardinals and bishops: “The Legislature of the State of Vermont, by passing the Civil Unions Bill, has attacked centuries of cultural and religious esteem for marriage between a man and a woman and has prepared the way for an attack on the well-being of society itself …”

Similarly, Robert Lewis Dabney, professor of theology at Union Seminary in Virginia, asserted: “What, then, in the next place, will be the effect of this fundamental change when it shall be established? The obvious answer is, that it will destroy Christianity and civilization in America….”

Cardinal Law and Professor Dabney engage in similar dire warnings, but — and here is the key — they are referring to two different events. Law refers to same-sex marriage, and Dabney, who lived from 1820 to 1898, referred to women’s suffrage — but they forebear similar consequences: the destruction of the family and civilization as we know it.

In actuality, both Law and Dabney are arguing for the maintenance of heterosexual male privilege and power over the rights of women and lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Unintentionally, Law and Dabney show the clear connections between sexism and homophobia, and by so doing, expose the true motives for the denial of rights to entire groups of people.